In vending premises various merchandise has to be exposed and refrigerated. This is normally done by placing the goods in partly closed cabinets having a superstructure with refrigerating equipment or at least with a cooling element, the remaining parts being accommodated in the lower parts of the cabinet. This solution is expensive both in building and running, because the cabinet structure is extensive and the merchandise has to be manually introduced. A cabinet will also be tied up in its arrangement, normally relatively to a wall.
From Danish patent publication 129188 (Nygren 1974) it is known to design a cooling unit for flowers with a superstructure containing cooling elements. To introduce the goods, manual handling is needed. Additionally an equipment with a superstructure will correspond to a cabinet in regard of costs.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,806 (Stanley Knight 1988), another counter is known, which is designed for exposing various kinds of refrigerated goods, with access from all sides. To improve the economic aspect of the refrigeration, this counter is provided with recirculation, run by a fan, which recirculation leads downwards flowing, cool air into the die base, after flowing over the goods that are to be kept cool, and from there, up through a rising channel to the upper edge of the cooling element. This improves the efficiency of the refrigeration, but requires more extensive equipment and a counter-solution, which in every case must be manually filled with goods.
From EP patent application 702918 (Electrolux 1995) it is known a refrigerated counter, which has a traditional box-solution, where a cooling element which is connected to the refrigerating machine in the die base of the counter, is positioned above the refrigerated counter. The purpose of this integrated solution is to achieve a more even, low temperature in the refrigerated goods. This arrangement is not suitable for creating a flexible, inexpensive and efficient refrigerating solution, for instance for volume merchandise such as fruits and vegetables and soft drinks